Friday’s Photos

I’m behind on my favorite bird photos of the past week, so bear with me…lots of birds today. I’ll start big — a Cooper’s Hawk was lurking in a palm tree at the birding center:

Last week I saw a Least Grebe. They are quite uncommon, but native to this area. This week I saw a Pied-Billed Grebe. The pied are more common, and a little bigger. Their bill is also thicker with a stripe, while the Least Grebe has a quite narrow bill plus that distinctive golden eye.

The grebes spend nearly all their time in the water, rarely flying or on land. They don’t walk well due to the location of their legs — far, far back on their bodies. They are excellent divers. As my nephew Bill pointed out the other day, when they were preening by stretching their necks out towards their tails, they are actually getting at an oil duct that’s by their tail. It is parafin-like, and they use their head to distribute this oil onto their feathers, making them more water proof.

I thought it was interesting to see how high this Green-Winged Teal raised herself out of the water during her bathing process.

And as she settled back into the water, she gave us a nice peek at those beautiful green feathers:

I love this picture of this turtle. The turtles are beyond abundant at Paradise Pond this year. This Red-Eared Slider looks like he could come right out of the picture:

Well, I’ve bombarded you with enough pix for today. I have some warbler pictures, including a mystery female I’ll ask for your help on, but I will save those for tomorrow.